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Willie's Bakery & Cafe
Categories: Food Bakeries Restaurants Breakfast & Brunch Bakeries, Breakfast & Brunch [Edit]
537 Johnson StVictoria, BC V8W 1M2
(250) 381-8414
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Wi-Fi:
- Free
- Good For:
- Breakfast
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Noise Level:
- Average
17 reviews for Willie's Bakery & Cafe
17 reviews in English
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Review from W Z.
1/1/2012
Great food, no wait, and great waiters. The Original Granola was fresh and the Pacific Omelettes had the proper egg to filling ratio.
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Review from Pete G.
5/19/2012
I'm a breakfast person and Willies is not it!
Get this- buttermilk pancakes include a meat for $10. OK, how about just pancakes please? No, it's $10 for 3 cakes meat or no meat!!!
And the cakes had no flavor of bmilk that I could discern.
Order at the counter, poor, broken English and two pads of butter the size of your finger nail in bubble packs.
Blue berries were great & two scrambled were ok for $6..
The best so far on many trips, The Blue Fox or Floyd's in my opinion. -
Review from Summer R.
4/14/2012
My husband and I were visiting Vancouver and took the ferry to Vancouver Island. We came upon this brunch place in Victoria and decided to have lunch.
My husband immediately went to the restroom, since we were driving for over an hour and half. I stood in line to be seated. As my husband went to the the restroom he found the restroom door locked and you had to request the front counter for the key. As the young girl was handing him the key, I could hear the cook in the kitchen shouting at her, NO, NO, NO! You ask if he is dining here first, this is as she was handing him the key, they both froze and looked at him, as continue shouting NO!
Then the girl asked him, he pointed towards me and said we were waiting to be seated. The cook shrugged his shoulders looked away ANNOYED! **Maybe high tourist area, but plain rude and my husband was livid, also the hygiene factor passing that nasty gas station key chain back and forth***
At that time I was seated to eat, it was 11:50 at this time and a young girl came and gave me two waters and told her I was waiting for my husband to come. Another group of three just sat down as well. My husband came few minutes later still upset and wanted to leave, but I said just relax, so he looked over the menu, I had to now go to the restroom, but the girl did not come back, so I told my husband what I wanted to order.
Once I came back to the table my husband stated no one came by to check on him, we waited several more minutes. Now it was 12:20 and the waitress came over, I told her we have been waiting - she asked didn't you go to the restroom that is why I didn't take order, I was annoyed we have been ready!!!
My husband not having an appetite for this place anymore order a bagel and I ordered a burger. SIGH As we waited for the food to come, I noticed the group of 3 people who arrived shortly after us, was already getting their check, and we already been there for 50 mins with NOTHING!!!
I saw our waitress and asked her to pack our food to go and give us the check, I was done with this place, we should of realized how the service was when my husband got reprimanded and questioned if he was a paying customer to use their restroom.
Wasted an hour at this place only to take the food with us. No comment on the food, as waiting in line for the restroom, which is next to the the cooking line there would be strong restroom stench coming out just equaled my whole feeling of the place. -
Review from Susan L.
12/19/2011
The food is fantastic! The only downside is the wait. Will visit every time in Victoria
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Review from Linny H.
3/31/2009 2 photos
This bakery cafe has a lot of hype and it didn't live up to it.
Why is it worthwhile to checkout? The bakery offers many tempting choices, unfortunately for me, I choose bad. I don't recommend the blueberry bran muffin unless you "need" it, if you know what I mean. If you don't, don't ask. They offer cakes and pies that makes your mouth water. Plus they offer fresh squeeze orange juice. Always a plus! Their French Vanilla Yogurt with fresh fruit dish was quite good. But then again, how can you go wrong with fruit and yogurt.
What's bad? As an American, I'm used to a certain way pancakes are made and I, umm, don't like Canadian pancakes. The difference was noted by my friend, Mo. He had the plain while I had mines with blueberries. They made it with water versus milk. So it was thin and kinda tasteless even with powdered sugar and blueberries. On top of that, the prices were way inflated. $10 for just pancakes?? They weren't even good!
Come here if you want some bakery goods but skip breakfast.Listed in: Hot spots in Victoria
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Review from David M.
9/15/2011
I am being generous with three stars here, but the food was very good. We sat outside and ordered coffee. It took ten minutes to get the coffee. I noticed two other tables were also waiting for coffee and talking about the slow service. Two tables next to each other were actually talking amongst themselves about the slow service. I had to flag down the "coffee girl" (apparently it's not the waitress's job) to get a refill.
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Review from Tom E.
Vancouver, BC
5/25/2010
Well, I'm a lover of Eggs Benny so when I was told that this was a great place to grab a breakfast in Victoria, I was all over it. The layout is a little odd, and I can see how, if busy, there can be a little confusion, but once we sat down this wasn't a problem at all.
The Blackstone Benny that I had was great. The eggs were well cooked, the tomato was fresh, and the cheese and bacon tasty. The Hollandaise was exceptional and, to be honest, this is what makes or breaks a Benny in my opinion. Having looked at my friends' dishes, I think that I can quite easily say that this is one of their best menu items, although the waffles also looked quite good. I also ordered a side of Chorizo, and to be honest, I think that it might be worth a miss. Not the most tasty side. In addition, it would have been nice if the fruit cup had something more than apples in it, but, to be honest, I suppose I was happy enough having any kind of fruit. Oh, before I forget... the potatoes were amazing!
The wait staff were really friendly attentive to our needs (important as some of us were a little grouchy and hungover after a wedding the night before).
Next time I'm in Victoria, I'll be back for another go. -
Review from Matthew L.
Edmonton, AB
3/17/2010
I'm not sure if I'm more put off by the flavorless food here, or by the oddities of the space. Willie's is an odd place in that people eating at the counter at the front of the room may order at the counter, but they also happen to have table service. On a busy sunday morning, this causes confusion and altercations among hungry diners.
Another annoyance: the interac and credit card machine for diners who have received table service is located in a corner of the room away from the counter. We happened to sit by this machine and always had somebody waiting for transactions to go through beside us.
I like how they serve Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice, but I don't like how they stop serving breakfast at Noon.
And I like the novelty of serving an Eggs Benedict on a brioche, but I didn't like the lack of zing in the hollandaise.
And my wife found her Veggie Burger to be a bit too crumbly for her tastes. -
Review from Gillian F.
North Vancouver, BC
11/4/2009
I used to go here all the time, about 5-6 years ago when they had their original owners they made the most amazing chipotle chicken club sandwich. And I remember they always had great side soups and salads to go with these sandwiches.
I went back one day, after they had switched owners and they had changed my at the time favorite sandwich in Victoria and I was so disappointed. I believe this was around the same time they opened their new location at the Museum.
Thats the problem with some small restaurants, you love them so much in the beginning then someone new comes in and changes everything (which some times works out well) but the prices went up and now I can honestly say its not one of the first places I think of going to anymore.
However I will give them one thing, their outside patio was gorgeous to sit on during the summer, there were always birds around and fountains....I'm not sure if this has changed or not. -
Review from Eric B.
Victoria, BC
8/22/2010
Pro: Eggs benny seems pretty good, nice place. Good sourdough.
Cons: Very slow service (they're understaffed and I think the kitchen is just slow/overworked so they don't bother adding more staff), the syrup is terrible which made the average pancakes worse than they needed to be. The maple sausages were tasteless and over-cooked.
I'd rather go to Shine or Floyd's instead. -
Review from Jessica L.
Edmonton, AB
9/18/2009
Heath and I stumbled upon Willies while heading in the wrong direction looking for Rebar. We were starved after getting off an early morning flight and were happy to walk into a place that smelled like pure heaven. We figure its usually a good indicator for how things will taste!
We were seated on the covered patio and enjoyed the sparrows hopping around our feet while we waiting for some green tea. The menu isn't overly large, but so many things sounded perfectly delicious that we were having a hard time deciding. We decided to order two different kinds of eggs benedict and share. I ordered "The Latin", a bennie featuring chorizo sausage, chipotle hollandaise and avocado, and Heath ordered "The Blackstone", a bennie with tomator, cheddar, dijon bacon and hollandaise. Both meals also came with fresh fruit and roasted potatoes.
Our food arrived in good time and we promptly swapped egg for egg. I dug into "The Latin" first as it was gleeming with red peppered sauce and perfect green avocado. It was unlike any bennie I've had before and I am planning a visit back in two day before we leave for another bite! It was slightly spicy, but toned down by the perfectly cooked soft egg and avocado. I dug into The Blackstone afterwards hoping I hadn't eaten the good one first, and I was not disappointed. It was equally succulent but with a different twist. The tomato, cheddar and bacon were all familiar tastes but still rich and fresh like something new. I wasn't able to finish much of the potatoes or fruit afterwards as I was stuffed. We slowly drank our tea before marvelling at the sky high carrot cake as we paid our bill and hit the streets to walk off a great breakfast! -
Review from Erik R.
4/23/2010 4 photos
Willie's Bakery & Cafe - easily our favorite breakfast spot in Victoria. It's just up the way as you cross over the big blue bridge, and beckons patrons in with the smell of dozens of sorts of freshly baked muffins and scones. We were seated promptly, past the main counter, through the sunroom and thankfully on the patio.
Willie's' patio feels a lot like Urban Solace in San Diego or The Girl and the Fig in Sonomoa. It's open, smartly festooned with potted plants and fountains, and allows for views of the street and surrounding buildings through various bits of latis work and screens. Very cozy without being stuffy, very comfortable, very nice.
The wait staff at Willies are just as we've come to expect absolutely everyone in Vancouver to be, genuinely nice, polite, prompt and professional without being stuffy. I ordering a London Fog (Earl Grey Tea, Steamed Milk, that's it :P) which is a lot like a chai tea latte but without the heaviness of the chai drink. For breakfast I ordered the **Granolla**. Based on an **ancient** recipe it's lighter and crisper then the stuff you'll find in the store, and pretty awesome with fresh fruit and the perfect portion of yogurt.
Their entire menu is fresh and delicious, I can't imagine having breakfast anywhere else. -
Review from Karlie M.
1/24/2011 2 photos
Willie's café and bakery is the oldest bakery in Victoria (1887), and also the home of a great little café. Dave and I went here on our last day in Victoria, a Sunday, for breakfast. The café was busy, but we only had to wait about 5 minutes for a table.
There are three sections to the café. The first section, when you walk in the door, has the bakery counter and some tables, the second section is an enclosed patio, and the third is an outdoor patio, which wasn't open. The first section is a little busier, a little more hustle-bustle, because there are people being served at tables and people walking up to the counter for take-away. We sat in the enclosed patio area, which was quieter and cozy.
Our server was a quite nice and upbeat young lady. One portion of the breakfast menu is only served until 11:30am (noon on the weekends) and another portion is served all day. There is quite a good selection, ranging from bacon and eggs and pancakes, to French toast, different kinds of eggs, and granola and yogurt. I ordered the "Two of Everything" , which included two eggs, two pancakes, two pieces of toast and meat (choice of two different kinds of sausage or bacon). I must say, the pancakes were the best pancakes I have ever had in my entire life. Anywhere. I am not exaggerating. I was finishing up writing some postcards at breakfast, and I literally wrote home about how delicious they were. Dave had the banana pecan French toast, which is banana loaf drizzled with pineapple and vanilla sauce and topped with banana slices. I had a few bites, and it was also absolutely scrumptious. All of the eggs Willie's uses are free run, and they were noticeably tastier than regular eggs.
We had a great experience at Willie's and would highly recommend it to anyone in Victoria. -
Review from mallory o.
4/2/2009 1 photo
I can't agree with Linn.
Willie's renewed my faith in Victoria's food.
I too was visiting from the U.S. for a little spring break getaway. I had a horrible first day experience with food, everything I ate was either terrible, or just not very good. The next morning, I was more than skeptical. Eating out being one of the major reasons I go on vacation, I was uber bummed. I'd all but given up. Then I stumbled upon Willie's.
I am the biggest eggs benedict fan in the world. I've had a million different ways, and boast that I make some of the best in the world. WIllie's comes in close second. I had their blackstone (glazed bacon), fresh tomato, on top of brioche with a delicate homemade hollandaise. I'm a huge, huge food critic. I'm not easy to impress, especially when it comes to dishes I consider to be one of my specialties. We loved it so much, we went back the next morning and had the same thing (with truly fresh squeezed orange juice to boot)!
Go, order breakfast, make your tummy happy! -
Review from Liz K.
7/22/2010
I like Willie's. It is what it is, a nice brunch/lunch place... But there's nothing too spectacular about it. My dad happens to love their granola. Overall though, their food can be had at almost any brunch restaurant.
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Review from john h.
7/21/2009
The guy at the front desk of my hotel recommended this place for breakfast, and the server recommended the eggs benedict. Well, these were excellent recommendations: probably the best eggs benedict that I have ever eaten.
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Review from tina m.
9/2/2009
yum! not that impressed with the food in victoria, but this place was so great. next time we'll eat there everyday. everything on the menu sounded delish, it's was hard to decide what to get. and the desserts looked amazing (but we were too full to try one).
